Reflections of Light

The Game

Nyx was walking down the street, shopping bags in hand, music blaring in her ears, when the world went dark.

Just stopping short of jumping out of her skin, she froze, feeling the too-familiar hands covering her face.

"Boo. Guess who?"

Nyx considered screaming, but that probably wasn't such a good idea with Alysha's hands gripping her head.

"Oh, come on." Alysha chuckled, taking her hands down from Nyx's face to loop their arms together instead.
"Not even a smile? Since when did I become the fun one in this relationship." She teased, grinning at Nyx like they were old friends and there was nothing strange between them.

Nyx rolled her eyes irritably, choosing aggravation as a mask for her unnerve.

"What do you want now?"

Alysha clapped her hands, jumping a little, excitedly. "Oh, wait, I know! Let's play a game! That game, where you ask me a question, then I ask you a question, then you ask me, then I ask you. Then me again. Then you again. Then me, then you. Me, you. Like that?"

"What, like twenty questions or something?"

Alysha nodded, towing Nyx under the shade of a particularly large tree, and tugging her down onto the grass; before sitting opposite her, legs crossed and looking expectant.

"Uh... Okay..." Nyx said, dropping the plastic bags and flexing her fingers to relieve the pain where they'd been cutting into her skin. "Well, I guess, once again, what do you want?"

"Hmm...Oh, so much, its unbelievable. Well, I guess the same things everyone wants, in the end. My turn...!"

"Wait! That wasn't even an actual answer!"

"Too broad of a question."Alysha chuckled. "We'll have to teach you to be more precise. Or to read between the lines. One or the other. Definitely how to keep your cards close to your chest.
But that's for another time. Hmm...
What... Is your favourite colour?"

Nyx almost chocked in surprise. The question was shockingly... Normal.

"Uh... I don't know... Green?"

Alysha seemed to mull Nyx's answer over, deliberating it. "Hmmm... Why?"

"Oh no, I gave you an answer, I don't have to elaborate." Nyx said, grinning despite herself. "That's not how this works, according to your rules."

Alysha laughed, full-bodied and honest. "Well done. Alright, your turn."

"Why are you here?"

"To see you. My gosh, your not very good at this. Who is the most important person in your life right now?"

"... Abby." Nyx said, after a moments thought, hard as it was to say against Rachel, but she loved the child as her own.

Alysha tilted her head curiously. "The baby? Okay." She nodded, deliberating the answer once again way more than Nyx would have thought it asked.

"The caves." Nyx cut across, before Alysha could say anything else. "What's all that about?"

"That's more like it! See, knew you'd pick this up." Alysha crowed, chucking Nyx's chin fondly. "Power, essentially. But that's basic, everything is. Knowledge. Truth.

Truth is knowledge, and knowledge is power, and at the end of the day, it's not good or evil, but power that wins. Power to those few who dare face the truth, who dare seek answers, who aren't afraid to ask. "

Nyx let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, looking at Alysha's unnerving eyes leaning a little too close.

Alysha tilted her head to the side, cat-curious and grinning. "You'll understand eventually. Once the infatuation fades. Then there's so much I can show you."

Nyx looked away, having been stared down by Alysha's intense gaze.

Alysha smirked, scooting back into her place.

"If you could have one wish in the entire universe, anything you wanted, what'd it be? And don't say like world peace or some dumb shit, that's an easy answer."

"Isn't that the morally correct answer though?" Nyx replied, raising a challenging eyebrow.

Alysha snorted. "Who's law is morals? Not mine. And I'm asking you. What you want."

There was a heavy pause as Nyx tried to think of a suitable answer, but of all the things that had happened on her life, nothing stood out over the rest, each fighting for her attention.

"... I don't know. " She finally said, honestly.

" Well..." Alysha mused. "At least its not nothing. At least its not nothing."